All the other forums have a place to do this. Why not us? I don't have my camera yet, but I will post a picture as soon as I get it. This will also allow people see different ways to place monitors, and other thing used along with the types of telescopes used.

Here's the humble beginning to my indoor control room. I'll be observing inside with the scope sitting outside (duh!) and eventually, the scope will be in a dog house that flips off when I'm ready to observe.

The clunker equipment includes laptops for scope control, star charts, internet image lookups, and musical ambiance. A PC with CRT monitor is used for image capture, and the 12" b/w monitor is primary observing screen. I use a program called Synergy to share a keyboard and mouse across all systems. The Little People "Fill-n-Go!" garage is for keeping me occupied between exposures.

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Sorry about that. :o It's the older version Mallincam Hyper Color. Which I've not yet become familiar with. Attached to a Meade LX200R 14". And all the talk about high resolution monitors and all I have used so far is a old 12" RCA T.V.

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This camera does duty as an electronic finder. It is a Mallincam attached to a modified Stellarvue F50 finder. The finder is attached to a 10" SCT OTA.

Heres is my video camera that actually gets the most use. It is a GStar-EX B&W that has a 2.6mm lens attached. It use to monitor where the scope is pointing and where the dome's slit is. It is attached to the side of a SV102APO.

I went the "bottom feeder" route a couple times. I used VNC via wireless to control my laptop out by the scope which was running autostar and an LPI, from the ancient PC in my office. Kinda funny thinking that the scope was about 50 feet away, yet the computer control was going miles and miles to some server, who knows where, back to my router and then broadcast to my laptop out in the cold... while I was inside toasty warm.

Like I say, a bottom feeder application, but it worked, I could see and image Saturn remotely and control the scope

Here is a link to what I was able to do because I had a suitable video system. I was able to broadcast via the Discovery Channel, the total lunar eclipse 28th August, live as it happened together with two other widely separated observatories, to the rest of the world. Follow the link and follow each hyper link for the full story.And how The Imaging Source in Germany, sponsored my part by donating a 1/2" colour firewire camera.

Douglas, can you describe your wireless video setup? Particularly how you position the transmitter and receiver to get a clean signal? I purchased one from B&H recently and was not impressed, so I decided to return it.

Jim, you're gonna hate me ... that shot was during an almost full moon! And ... it was my first shot with the camera!!

Matthew: I purchased the wireless video transmitter/receiver from www.vfmstore.com and purchased optional high gain antenna but often I use the small stock antenna with no problem. I am sending the signal about 40 feet, to my living room. The signal goes through the exterior wall of the house but I also have a window and keep the receiver near the window. There isn't direct line of sight but the transmission is still strong and stable. I have used the system without having the receiver near the window and it still works. You can order the transmitter/receiver on a 2.4 or 1.2 Ghz signal.

I hate the cold but love the winter targets, this is the way to go when it's too cold out there.

Here's my Watec 120N set up as a guide camera on a William Optics 66SD. I feed the video into my laptop with a generic video to USB converter even though I was given a B&W CRT with the camera. The CRT is just too much bulk to haul around. I've used the camera for guiding, out reach and to capture some images (just to show what it can do).It's a fun piece of equipment.

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Here's an old picture of my MallinCam Pro (B&W) in action one frosty November evening a couple years ago. Mars was the target at the time if I recall correctly.

It's really cool to see video astro start to be discovered by so many people (and get it's own place on the forum too!)!! I've had a lot of fun in the almost 4 years I've been using mine, and I'm still on ancient tech compared to what is available today.

If anyone is interested in seeing the various things I've done with mine (using various different scopes), have a look in the photos section of the forums here:

Welcome to Cloudy Nights Shevill! Great video of the eclipse! Boy looks like you have your hands full there in that picture. Could you give us a rundown on all your toys there? Is that a fork mounted square reflector? Like I said glad you could join us here at C-N